MLS, Players Union Reach Deal On New Collective Bargaining Agreement

In a teleconference at around 1 p.m., MLS and its players’ union announced the agreement on a new five-year collective bargaining agreement.

Details haven’t really been released yet, but it appears that the players won some concessions in reagrds to guaranteed contracts and player movement, but there still won’t be free agency or a change to the single-entity structure.

Check back soon for more details.

UPDATE (2:08 p.m.)

According to the Associated Press article…

Union head Bob Foose said a majority of players will receive guaranteed contracts for the first time and there will be increased player rights within the league when contracts expire.

Management was opposed to free agency within MLS, which has negotiated all contracts on behalf of its teams since play began in 1996. MLS said players always had the option of signing with clubs overseas.

“Players will have greater rights at the expiration of their agreements but they will not be free agents within the league,” Garber said.

Instead, there will be a re-entry draft for players whose contracts end or options are declined.

“We think we have made some real improvements in players’ ability to move,” Foose said

i hope ur wrong about the free agency/singl entity structure. i mean i am on the players side since the bginning, but for the players to nearly make half the fans give up on mls and nearly causeing a strike only to not get what they want and allow the fat cats to reap at th expense of the players? who wrote this script? but nonetheless im glad thees actally a season

It’s good that the season will be played. Hopefully in 5 years soccer will have a bigger footprint in our country and the MLS will be making enough money so they can institute single entity and free agency within the league.

Yes, this is really great news. A strike would have been the worst thing for the MLS and US soccer. Baby steps is essential for the growth of a new league. I guarantee the MLS will continue to grow even more after this. After Donovan’s stint at Everton, World Cup, and everyone anticipating the first kick, this really will be a big season for MLS. I’m glad it’s finally going to happen, and with a new contract at that.

I was just watching the Red Bulls vs Santos match. Sweet Jesus, they drove a NASCAR onto the pitch and Lindsey Vonn got out to bring in the game ball. Then watching the game the crowd was dead silent minus the “Supports Section”, they need to put the crowd mics in that section and turn up the volume and it might sound like a soccer match.

MLS owners could have run without a league for two seasons and lost less money than they would operating, then, they could have declared bankruptcy and fluttered away on golden parachutes.

That’s why the players conceded so much: They can’t afford that hit at their salaries.

A strike probably would have heightened interest in reform, but players can’t put their meagre incomes on the line on those thin hopes. USSF and MLS are prepared to march the single entity to the grave before they concede that the model is the antithesis of the game, and the reason their league struggles.

When you put owners before supporters, you get MLS, a league that can’t tap into the average US fan. Their motiviations are many, but world class soccer is obviously not in the top 20.

Man this is awesome.
It is like the NCAA games that are on right now. Was it better if the 12 seed beat the 5 seed by 20, or on a last second shot ? Either way you wanted the 12 seed to win, but like the last second 3 pointer, the start of the MLS season being saved inside of a week just makes it that much more exciting.

Is there a person out there, fake or not, that isn’t counting the minutes until this weekend ?
If there is, don’t bother posting, save the bandwidth of all of us calling you a Eurosnob/soccer genius/moron.

This whole “re-entry” draft seems a little weird. I mean, how much freedom does a re-entry draft really afford the players? But, hell, if the players are happy, I’m happy. Can’t wait for Thursday! And especially Saturday when the Fire smoke the Red Bulls in that gorgeous new stadium of theirs.

NASL1
What planet are you from? The only “real” MLS teams are teh Sounder and in 2011 Timbers and Whitecaps because they come from “D2″, the best league in the US. You are talking about either USL or the current USSF sponsored 2010 league.

The talent is clearly better in MSL than D2. If all you are going to do is blatently promote something that does not exist, then go for it, but you are wasting the time and efforts of a lot of folks on this website.

In MLS, quality of play is pretty far down on the list of priorities. Fifteen years in, it’s still all about survival, since we judge the health of our first division by how much money the league is making.

Kugle, the second division in the United States is USSF Division II in name only. And only for one season. The league is really USL and NASL, and that the “USSF Division II” name is only a temporary solution since the USL and NASL couldn’t agree.

More evidence of the fundamental incompatibility of pyramids designed to incentivize owners to build the best clubs, and our system, in which leagues come before clubs are are always busy trying to kill each other off, because they are competition.

. Sweet Jesus, they drove a NASCAR onto the pitch and Lindsey Vonn got out to bring in the game ball. Then watching the game the crowd was dead silent minus the “Supports Section”, they need to put the crowd mics in that section and turn up the volume and it might sound like a soccer match.